ROME — Tucked away behind a row of pine trees on a gravel lot in the Alpine Village Business Park is the home of PerMar Ltd., a manufacturer of industrial cabinets, counter-tops and paneling.

It shares the space with three other businesses, all owned by Gregory Marx, which share employees and other resources to fulfill the needs of their customers. The partnerships among the companies, which also include a precision machining manufacturer, business consulting and crisis management company and a real estate business, compliment each other and provide multiple customer bases with the products and services they need.

As the primary company, PerMar uses phenolic material to create custom industrial furniture and facades for a variety of customers around the country, including the Las Vegas airport.

Question: What does your business do and why is it special?

Answer: We make architectural mill work products that are extremely technical by nature and designed for a specific purpose.

First of all, thereís a high degree of specialized manufacturing with tolerances, the types of material being used and the assembly of the product that is uncommon. ... We need to use stainless steel screws because of the strength of (the product). If we do use bonded-type glues it has to be a specialty-type glue, which we try to stay away from, if possible.

The product, if itís damaged or if for some reason it would be manufactured incorrectly is basically 100 percent scrap, so it very seldom can be salvaged like you could with wood or laminate. And just the cost of the material is probably 10 to 20 times more the cost than other types of (material).

Q: Why have you chosen central Wisconsin as a place to do business?

A: Weíve had our lake home for 20 years, Iím very familiar with the area and, quite bluntly, we felt that there was a good workforce up here. ... We really liked the workforce and the ethics and ... I thought it would make a lot of sense. When I saw what the town of Rome and Adams County did in this park ... it was charming. It was similar to like Kohler, Wis., where you have a small but very charming area. Thereís a lot of beauty and a lot of picturesque quality here. ... You drive in here and itís charming; itís lovely in comparison to some of the other opportunities or parks in the state.

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Q: Whatís your long-term vision for the company?

A: Well, I think weíre going to continue with our menu of companies working out of this location and expand their services ó whether itís brokerage, whether itís crisis management ó to more of a ... central Wisconsin base-type companies, where the PerMar and Precision companies ó their products are really ... international products that could go anywhere. We ship overseas a lot. ... Almost none of the product is for Wisconsin usage, where(as) our Business Associates and our BA Properties will cater to a Wisconsin marketplace.

But Iíve acquired enough property in this park to grow (the company) as big as I need to grow it, and thatís my intent. Or to possibly build another facility if I needed to if I were to find another acquisition or another product line that I felt we would not want to share a facility with.

Q: What advantages does having a location in central Wisconsin give you?

A: This whole central Wisconsin area here has been shunned by a lot of sophisticated competitors of mine who donít want to travel or donít think itís worth their time or effort or money to come up this way. We look at it as a good opportunity to partner and capture and be of assistance to many of the fine small businesses in this area. If you take a hundred-mile radius of this location, thatís pretty encompassing.

I think the businesses up here relate better to somebody thatís local, too. I think their comfort level with knowing that Iím a business owner here. ... I think the business owner accepts the fact that Iím also a business owner. ... That puts us quite a step above a competitor of mine who might come out of Chicago or Milwaukee or some other area (such as) Madison.